One Moment in Time
Chapter Four
Booth and Brennan arrived at Mark and Erica Sinclair's ranch style home located a few miles outside of DC. Booth parked along the curb then turned the ignition off. For several minutes neither of them said a word, the silence spoke volumes. As Brennan once said, telling the parents their child is dead is exceedingly unpleasant.
"Booth…" Brennan reached out and grabbed his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I know how hard this is for you. Remember, you're not alone anymore."
Booth sighed, squeezed Brennan's hand then said, "Thanks Bones. I know, it means a lot to me." He opened the door to get out of the vehicle, "Let's get this over with."
They walked together, shoulder to shoulder up the sidewalk to the front door of the Sinclair's home. Brennan took a deep breath then rang the doorbell. The noise was deafening in the silence of the predawn morning. They both knew that they were about to deliver news that is every parents worst nightmare. It took several minutes before they heard footsteps approaching the door, and then the porch light came on, nearly blinding them both.
A man's voice asked, "Who are you? What do you want?"
"Mark Sinclair? I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth from the FBI. I know it's early, but we need to speak to you about your children."
"Hold on." He quickly unlocked the door and after taking a closer look at Booth's badge he stepped aside to let them into his home.
"Thank you Mark, this is my partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan."
"Did you find Evan and Amanda?" he asked.
"Mr. Sinclair that's what we wanted to talk to you about," Brennan began as she looked past him and asked, "Do you have somewhere we could sit down and talk?"
"Sure, sure we can sit down in the living room," he said as he led them down the hall.
"Should I wake my wife?"
"Let her sleep. You can wake her after we talk."
Booth sat down on the couch before continuing. "You asked if we had found your children earlier, the answer is yes and no."
"Oh God you found them? Are they okay? Where are they?"
Brennan leaned forward and patted his leg comfortingly as he was beginning to panic. "We found your son, Evan. I'm so sorry but he's dead."
"Oh God, what will I tell my wife? Are you sure? He demanded between sobs. "How did he die?"
Booth interrupted before he could ask more questions. "Before we answer your questions we have more to tell you. We believe that Amanda was with Evan when he passed away. We need you to find something of Amanda's to give to the Search and Rescue people so they can use it as a scent marker for the dogs."
"Amanda's alive! Are you certain?" Mark couldn't believe that he had just gone from the lowest low to the highest high in a matter of seconds. He was still grieving the loss of his son, but the news that they thought Amanda was still alive filled him with hope once more.
"We don't know for certain, but every minute counts from now on. Please, if you can find something of Amanda's, like a favorite piece of clothing, shoes, jewelry, a stuffed toy, anything you know she has touched most recently that would contain more of her scent then anyone else in the household?" Brennan asked, as she continued to explain what Mark needed to do.
He jumped up from the couch and headed to his daughters room.
"Wait, before you grab something, let me know what you're going to choose. Don't pick the item up or touch it, just point to it. I'll pick it up with my surgical gloves on and drop it into one of my evidence bags." Brennan instructed Mark.
"Is that necessary?"
"The search and rescue dogs need to have the cleanest scent article that we can find. It makes it much easier for the dogs to track the missing person. They'll probably just put a piece of sterile gauze in the bag when we arrive and then remove it after a few minutes when your daughters scent has covered the gauze. That way you can keep your daughters possessions."
Brennan and Booth followed Mark to Amanda's room. He stopped in the doorway, his eyes welling with tears as he tried to decide what to give them. Brennan looked over his shoulder at Amanda's room.
In typical teenage girl fashion the room was pink, with pretty white curtains covered with butterflies hanging in the window. The walls were covered with posters of the latest pop singers, the likes of Celine Dion, Jessica Simpson, Nick Lachey, and The Jonas Brothers. Where there weren't any posters there were shelves covered with books, stuffed animals and dolls. In the center of the room was a twin canopy bed covered with a pink flowered comforter. Leaning against the pillow was a small stuffed bear, with thick brown fur, a shiny black nose and chocolate colored glass eyes. His stomach had a pink heart with the word Love embroidered on it.
"Mr. Sinclair, do you know if your daughter slept with the little bear on her pillow?"
"I think so, her boyfriend Eric won that bear for her at the carnival last summer. Evan caught her with it one night and kept teasing her about sleeping with a stuffed toy at her age. God, they loved each other so much."
Brennan stepped past Mark and gently picked up the stuffed bear then placed it in one of the plastic bags she always carried with her.
Just then Erica Sinclair came into view her petite figure wrapped in a warm robe, her hair tumbled around her head in gentle curls her eyes still sleep filled. "What's going on Mark?"
"Honey, I need to talk to you. Can you give me a minute?" He turned to Brennan and Booth then began to usher them down the hallway.
"Before I tell my wife, is it possible for us to see our son?"
"I don't think that would be a good idea. We were able to match Evan's DNA with the hair you gave us from his hairbrush." Brennan explained.
"It's probably better if you stay at home with your wife, so you can let her know what's going on. If we find anything, you'll be the first to know." Booth told Mark. "I have a son myself, so I understand how worried you both are about, Amanda. I can't begin to imagine what it must be like to loose a child. We will do whatever it takes to find your daughter."
Suddenly they heard a loud gasp and Erica Sinclair sobbed, "What!? What did you say? Evan is dead? Oh God!" She began to sob. When she could catch her breath she demanded, "Where's my daughter? Where's Amanda!?"
"Honey, please calm down. Let me explain."
It was clear that she was on the verge of hysteria. Brennan said to Booth under her breath, "Maybe we should call an ambulance so they can give her something to calm her down."
"No, no…I don't want any drugs, where are my children?" She started walking towards her husband when her face suddenly turned ashen, her hands shaking and the sweat began beading on her brow. Her eyes glazed over as she began falling.
"Booth, she's fainted, catch her." Brennan said in shock.
"Bones, call 911!"
"Mrs. Sinclair!"
"Erica!"
"Oh God, help her please, I can't take this, not now."
"The paramedics are on the way. Booth let's lay her down on the couch, Mark, go and get a cold washcloth for her forehead. I'm sure she'll be okay in a few minutes. It was too much of a shock for her right now."
Mark returned shortly with the cold cloth. "Do you have a pillow or something to elevate her legs?" Brennan asked.
"Sure, use this," he said as he grabbed a pillow from one of the reclining chairs.
"Please don't go until the paramedics get here," Mark pleaded.
"Look, see I told you she would be okay in a minute, she's coming too."
"We won't leave until we know your wife is okay. We do need to leave soon though as we're supposed to meet the Search dog teams at dawn." Booth reminded him.
Soon the paramedics arrived. They took Erica's vitals before informing the room at large that under the circumstances it might be better to let her stay in the hospital for a few hours under observation. They wanted her to be well and healthy when her daughter was found. It took a little while but Booth, Brennan, and her husband finally convinced her to go, with the promise that they would let them know as soon as any new developments arose.
Booth and Brennan walked out behind the gurney carrying Erica. They waved goodbye to her and said they would be in touch soon before hopping into the SUV for the ride back out to the crime scene. It was going to be a very long day.
While Booth drove them back to the crime scene, Brennan was on the phone speaking with Agent Mathews. "Agent Mathews, this is Dr. Temperance Brennan. I'm calling to let you know my partner and I are running late. We had to send Amanda and Evan's mother to the hospital. As you can imagine she's having a hard time handling the news." She paused for a moment waiting for him to speak.
"Booth says we're about thirty minutes away. Are all of the rescue teams there now?"
Agent Mathew's informed her that everyone was on scene and would be ready to be debriefed as soon as they arrived.
"Please tell them that we were able to obtain an item belonging to Amanda."
They said goodbye and Brennan closed her phone before putting it back in her jacket pocket.
As they pulled into Gambrill State Park for the second time in less than twelve hours they were greeted by several new faces. Agent Mathew's made his way over to them. "Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan, if you'll follow me we have a command post available for you to debrief the rescue teams before they send the dogs out."
They followed him over to a new setup that was equipped with several GPS tracking devices, radios and a huge map of Gambrill State Park, Cunningham Falls Park and Catoctin State Park. Every known trail in each park was mapped out, waiting for them to decide which area to begin their search.
Brennan and Booth looked at each other, clearly impressed with how well organized they were. Agent Mathew's began to make the introductions since he had met the rescue team earlier, and had helped them set up their equipment while they had waited for them to arrive.
"May I have everyone's attention please?"
All activity ceased as everyone gathered around so they could introduce themselves, their dogs and each dog's capabilities.
"This is Special Agent Seeley Booth of the FBI, and his partner Dr. Temperance Brennan."
"Hi, I'm Don Ellington, I'll be searching with my German shepherd, Phantom."
Booth and Brennan eyed the middle aged man with dark, short hair and a mustache. He was about six foot tall, a big burly man with a nose for seeking out the worst of the criminal world.
Don then introduced them to John Smith and his Bloodhound Dolly. "It's nice to meet you. I'm sorry it had to be under these circumstances."
"Hi it's nice to meet you." Booth and Brennan nodded to John.
John shook hands with both Booth and Brennan before adding, "Dolly will be the main one using the scent marker you brought. I can tell you with certainty if, Amanda, was here, Dolly will find her in no time at all. She's the best tracking dog I've ever had."
"This is Elisa Thomson; she'll be searching with her American Cocker Spaniel, Rocket. Rocket's a young dog, with a remarkable talent for air scenting, so long as he keeps his mind on the business of tracking and doesn't get sidetracked by a cat or his favorite feathered friend." Don winked as he finished making introductions.
"Nice to meet you," Booth and Brennan shook Elisa's hand.
"Before we get started, Agent Mathews informed me that you had some concerns about how reliable the dogs search will be since there were numerous people at the crime scene. Is that correct?" Don asked.
"Yes, I had some concerns. This is the first time my partner and I have worked with Search and Rescue dogs. I'm a friend of Molly's, but her dog Tuti is only trained as a cadaver dog, which is a bit different than what you and your dogs do."
Brennan watched Don and the rest of the rescue members looking for any signs that would lead her to believe they did not have complete confidence in their dogs.
"I prefer my crime scenes be as pristine as possible. It makes my job as a forensic anthropologist much easier. Before we arrived, there were at least six to twelve people walking through the crime scene area. Once my partner and I arrived, no one else had access to the area. Will that cause complications for the dogs?" Brennan asked her voice concerned. She needed the dogs to find Amanda as much for the young girls parents as she did for herself and Booth.
"We'd like to put your mind at ease. Despite all of the activity of combing the crime scene, removing your victim's body and collecting evidence, the dogs will still be able to pick out the scents of your missing person and her abductor."
"How is that possible?" Booth asked, amazed that with all of the other potential scents the dogs would still be capable of picking out only Amanda's and her kidnapper.
"Let me give you two reasons to explain why that's possible. The first is the fact that all dogs have a total of 125-200 million olfactory cells whereas us human's only have about 5 million olfactory cells."
Booth was looking at Don with a confused look on his face.
Brennan explained, "Olfactory cells are what enable us to smell."
"Oh, I see."
Don continued to explain, "That's right, Dr. Brennan. All humans whether alive or deceased constantly emit microscopic particles bearing human scent. Millions of particles are airborne and are carried by the wind for considerable distances."
Gee whiz, what is with everyone, first Bones, the squints and now even the search and rescue team are talking like scientists. Hodgin's would be in seventh heaven if he was here now. Booth thought to himself. There were days when he wondered how he ever graduated from high school, let alone college after working around his co-workers the last few years. Booth quickly returned his attention back to Don's explanation.
"Those dogs that are trained to air scent can locate any human in a specific search area. These dogs are not restricted to following the missing persons track from their path on the ground, but can air scent search long after the ground track is obliterated."
Don continued explaining what he and his dog would be doing during the search. "My boy Phantom's specialty is being able to pick out the one scent most likely to be your perpetrator. He does this by following what we like to call either a 'hot' or 'fear scent' trail on the ground or by air scenting."
Booth and Brennan looked at each other quizzically. "What do you mean by that exactly?" Booth asked.
"I can't give you a scientifically accurate reason why, I just know from my own firsthand experience along with other police officers, search and rescue members and their k-9 partners that most dogs prefer to track what is known as 'fear' scent – or the scent of an emotionally aroused person. This instinct or ability is what I rely on when starting Phantom on a contaminated criminal track such as we have today. I've learned over the years to trust him, as he has never been wrong yet."
"Really, you have no scientific reason to explain how the dogs do this?" Booth asked while smirking at his partner. "Then I guess you could say that you and Phantom are following your gut, so to speak?"
Don laughed then winked at, Booth, nodding his head in agreement. "I guess that's what you would probably call it."
Brennan rolled her eyes and snorted her disdain, "Anthropologically speaking it has more to do with the primal ability of canid's to recognize the weak or fearful members of society. Now, because the dogs are working side by side with humans, it may come from the dog's association with people and officers. Everyday their noses are filled with the scent of criminals who are running in fear from the police. It's only logical that they would learn to follow that scent, as it ultimately leads to the dogs being rewarded for finding the criminal."
"Geez, Bones you just can't make it through the day or a case without bringing in anthropology can you?" Booth whined, "You'll have to excuse her. After four years of us being partners she still can't bring herself to trust my gut or anyone else's for that matter."
"That's okay we'll just let the dogs do their jobs. This is the quickest way to make the most skeptical person understand. I can say with certainty the dogs will find your missing person as long as the area we are searching contains evidence left behind by the suspect."
"What we will do once you direct us to the area to be searched is to take our dogs out one at a time, where they will either begin a ground scent trail or an airborne one. If we don't find anything once the initial area has been thoroughly searched, we will begin to search a larger area, one that everyone agrees is the most likely point to begin searching for your missing person and your suspect."
Elisa had a special request to ask of Booth and Brennan, "If it's at all possible, we would like to have the dogs introduced to anyone from law enforcement that has had access to the area you would like us to search. That would include whoever was the first to report finding the victim. This is so that the dogs understand that they are not who we are looking for."
"I'm sure that can be arranged." Booth said.
"Our search areas will have to be mapped out according to the current wind conditions. When the dogs are air scenting they have to be searching into the wind. Those that search by ground scent should be heading downwind. Since we will be searching a large area this could take a while, depending on whether we stay on the marked trails or we end up in more wilderness type terrain."
'Right, which means we should probably get started then." Booth said. "Agent Mathew's can you round up everyone that we know for certain was at the crime scene last night?"
"Sure, just give me a minute."
"Don't forget to bring Mr. and Mrs. Mitchelson over with your men. I know this is going to be hard on Annette, so we'll need to do this quickly." Brennan reminded Agent Mathew's.
"While we're waiting for Agent Mathew's and the others, I wanted to remind everyone that there are five thousand acres in Cunningham Falls Park alone." Don paused as he waited for the rest of them to grasp the magnitude of what he was telling them. "There are nine miles of trails that connect Gambrill State Park and Cunningham Falls Park that can only be reached via the Catoctin Trail, which itself covers twenty-seven miles. We're looking at a six to eight hour search that will have to be gridded out if the dogs don't find something right away."
"Do you have some kind of routine you usually follow on a case this size?" Booth asked. "I assume since your reminding us how big this search could become that you have a list of people you prefer to have working with each team?"
John nodded, "Yes. Since we are covering a lot of ground, we need someone here at the base camp to keep track of where we have already searched. We usually have another assistant following us with the dogs, especially when we are searching a heavily wooded area like this. It's highly unlikely that our suspect stayed on a marked trail for any length of time. Dolly will be wearing her tracking harness at all times, but Phantom and Rocket will spend the majority of their search off leash as they will be air scenting more often then tracking."
Elisa motioned to the table under the tent with all of the accessories they would be using with the dogs. "Each handler will be equipped with a radio and the dogs with a GPS tracker." She pointed to each item. "Rocket and Phantom will be wearing a special blanket that lets everyone know they are a Search and Rescue dog. The blankets make the dogs highly visible to other law enforcement officers or anyone who may be driving a motor vehicle in case the dogs end up near a busy highway while conducting a search. We don't want anything to endanger the dog's safety."
Don turned to the map and pointed, "Of course we'll begin our search on Yellow Poplar trail since that is where the victim was found. After that we will begin searching the less strenuous trails. More than likely our suspect didn't want to have to divide his attention between his two victims and watching a potentially life threatening trail."
"We won't be searching these trails for the following reasons. White Oak trail is for bikers only. Red Maple is not connected to any other trail in the park. Green Ash trail is about two miles long however it encompasses an area that is full of uneven ground and several steep hills, making this another unlikely path for our suspect to have traveled."
Don continued pointing to each trail on the map. "Both Black Locust trail and the Catoctin Trail overlap Yellow Poplar trail, here and here. Black Locust trail is about three miles long, is fairly easy to hike but does have a couple of steeper areas with good views of the Frederick Valley to the east and Middleton Valley to the west. The trail goes from Gambrill State park for approximately three miles, and continues north through the Frederick City Watershed, Cunningham Falls State Park, and Catoctin Mountain National Park. For now we'll concentrate the search in these areas."
Agent Mathew's returned with the Mitchelson's and the other law enforcement officers who were first at the crime scene the night before. Don, Elisa and John went to retrieve their dogs so they could introduce them to the others.
When they returned with the dogs, Don informed them, "Please, don't touch or say anything to the dogs. Just stand there and let them come to you so they can sniff each of you and move on. We don't want them to get attached to anyone. We just want them to know that you are a scent they already know, so that when we do send them out to search, hopefully they won't be following your trail instead of Amanda's or the suspect."
Within ten minutes the dogs had seen and met everyone and it was time to begin the search. "My partner and I would like to thank all of you for making the time to see the dogs." Booth said.
Annette Mitchelson had tears in her eyes as she watched the Search dog teams head up the trail. "I know you said you can't tell us anything, but if you do find Amanda alive, I hope that you will tell her that my husband and I were, and are praying for her and her family, Agent Booth."
"If it's possible I'll try and find a way to let you know if we find her alive and well." Booth patted her hand trying to offer her some level of comfort. Finding human remains was hard enough, but knowing you had found the remains of a young child was exceedingly difficult. He hoped that the young woman wouldn't be struggling with nightmares for years to come as a result. He wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy.
Booth and Brennan followed the rest of the crowd up the trail to the crime scene. "Agent Mathews did you inform everyone they should be on the lookout for poisonous snakes, coyotes or possibly even a black bear while they are searching for Amanda." Booth asked.
"Yes, that was one of the first things we talked about this morning."
As they continued up the narrow, rocky trail Don said, "Once we reach the scene; please don't be offended if we suddenly stop talking to you. We need to concentrate on our dogs, so we don't miss their first alert that will tell us they have caught either Amanda or our suspects scent."
"Once the dogs find a track, they can really travel a lot of ground in a very short time. It can be very exhausting, both mentally and physically. I know Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan and Agent Mathews are going to want to follow us; however it will be safer and save more time if you all remain at the scene. If/when we find something, we'll radio you with our position." John informed them.
"We're almost there," Brennan said as she paused for a moment to reach into the pocket of her lab coat. She handed John two evidence bags, one with Amanda's teddy bear and the other with the sterile piece of gauze. I wasn't sure if you would just want the teddy bear or the gauze with her scent, so I brought both just in case. I hope that this will enable you and Dolly to find Amanda."
"Let's try the one with the gauze for now. I would like to keep Dolly from getting her dog slobbers all over it. I'm sure it means a lot to Amanda's family that nothing happens to her possessions."
John proceeded to put Dolly's tracking harness on her. He quickly opened the evidence bag and held it to the Bloodhounds nose. She thrust three fourths of her muzzle, including five or six rolls of her black and tan lip folds, or flews inside the bag as she inhaled Amanda's scent. "Seek and find." He commanded.
Dolly inhaled several times, steaming up the plastic bag before pulling her muzzle free, lowering her nose to the ground and sniffing and snorting like a pig as her long floppy ears fell forward, lifting the scent off the wet, rocky trail into her large, black quivering nostrils. Dolly began pulling on her harness, her head weaving back and forth across the ground. Within a couple of minutes she had worked her way into the crime scene area, her nose going non stop, her tail standing upright as it waved slowly back and forth. She circled around the burned area several times, before she suddenly lifted her head from the ground where Booth and Brennan had found Evan's backpack, and let out a mournful deep woof.
"She's got her." John mumbled under his breath. "Seek and find, Dolly." That was all the encouragement she needed as she took off up the trail at a fast trot, her nose glued to the ground, sniffing, snorkeling and grunting the entire time.
Don proceeded up the trail, sending Phantom out to do his initial search. The big black and tan German shepherd went straight to work, his head lifted into the light wind that had just recently began blowing again. He was waving his head from side to side, his nostrils flaring as he breathed in the scent flowing in on the breeze.
His ears were pricked forward, listening for any unusual sounds. He occasionally dropped his head to the ground, before sniffing around looking for that one special scent he loved so much. He knew once he found it, and took Don to the source, he would get the biggest, juiciest steak ever. To everyone's surprise he went to Don, sat down, twisted his head sideways as he made eye contact with him, bounced his nose off of his knee and then turned around and headed back down the way they had just come.
"Does anyone else think that's odd?" Booth whispered. "Why would one of the dogs go one way and the other another?"
"They could be following two different scent trails or it could be the same one. It's not unusual for a criminal or a missing person to cover the same ground. The criminals think that by going in several different directions they can confuse the search dogs. Once in a while that works. Usually if the track is not too old the dogs will pick up the trail again." Elisa answered.
Elisa leaned down to talk to her Irish setter red colored Cocker Spaniel, Rocket. He sat down before lifting his head up to look at her, his dark brown eyes full of excitement, his tail wagging furiously back and forth, making a slight indentation in the ground. His long, silky red ears were lifted nearly to the top of his skull listening to every word she said to him. His whole body was wiggling in excitement.
She walked him to the crime scene while he was still on leash, "Rocket, seek and find." He moved rapidly around the scene his nose alternately sniffing the ground then the air. Rocket quartered the ground, back and forth numerous times.
He paused in mid stride, his head facing into the wind, his long red ears blowing behind his shoulders and out away from his head. His tail was up, gently wagging from side to side, his neck outstretched as high as it would go, his muzzle quivering like a rabbits. He turned and looked at Elisa before bounding towards her a few steps. She pulled him to her, so she could release him from the leash. He was off like a shot as soon as he heard the snap hook release. He flew down the trail the same direction that Don and Phantom had gone before quickly veering off the trail and down into the thick underbrush that led towards the valley below.
"He's onto something really good, I can feel it!" Elisa exclaimed in excitement as she took off after her dog.
TBC
A/N Please don't forget to leave me a review and tell me what you liked the most or the least about this chapter. A favorite line or scene you especially enjoyed etc.